Cross Examination
by hakikaten
Summary: Mikasa is convinced she's in love with Eren, her debate partner and childhood friend. That is, until a new assistant coach catches her in what must be the most formidable cross ex of her life. Levi will do what it takes to get Mikasa to accept his offer. It's all fine - perhaps even productive - until Levi accidentally opens some dangerously wide avenues for questioning. Modern AU.
1. Ch 1: Didn't you just win the round?

1: Didn't you just win the round?

"Immigrants have long been the source of America's prosperity, and they will be a vital part of America's future. Thus, the plan: The United States should revise its policies regarding individuals who have entered the US without inspection, permitting all current undocumented residents to forego the requirement to apply from their home consulate to secure citizenship.

"Inherency: there are currently over eleven million people in the US thought to be undocumented, and this issue is currently politically urgent. While there have long been paths for undocumented individuals to receive lawful permanent residence or citizenship, the process is unnecessarily arduous and rife with barriers and penalties that resemble criminal punishment – CitizenPath, 2016…" Eren's voice rang strong in the opening speech of their first round of the day's debate tournament.

Eren was a perfect first affirmative speaker. Mikasa suppressed the warmth she felt threatening to advertise on her skin as she let her attention drift. Eren's pure conviction in his words was evident to judges from the moment they made eye contact with him. His undeniable charisma was something that gave Mikasa both great pleasure and annoyance, as it tended to attract not only attention from herself but from a drove of other young women at their college.

Eren wrested judges' attention so strongly at times that Mikasa observed them ceasing to take notes. This one had, and seemed happy to sit back in their seat to enjoy the young man's performance. Mikasa smiled to herself at the good omen and forced her concentration back to her flow sheet. Eight columns, eight speeches – Eren led as the 1AC as usual, so she took her notes in the section furthest to the left.

Dark eyes flickered up to the pair sitting across the room. Mikasa used her hair as a curtain to mask her calculating gaze. From Marley College, Bertholdt Hoover and Reiner Braun. Both were diligently taking notes and occasionally whispering to one another so it was hard to tell who might be the 1NC, but Braun seemed to have a bit more of a presence about him. Mikasa wagered that like many novice pairs, Marley would put the showy orator up for the first negative speech and leave the second to the more cerebral partner, who would have the job of building the roadmap for the critical negative block.

Mikasa heard Eren reach the second advantage, and she made a note of such on her flow. A time check told her he was reaching the last quarter of his speech. _Good, Eren._ She felt a twinge of pride, and let it show through a small smile. His reading time had improved incredibly over the past two months since they started debating. It had initially frustrated him to the point of hysterics, but as ever, Eren persevered.

"Advantage three: Economy. Newly documented immigrants will be more likely to fully engage in job sectors traditionally lacking in diversity, without risking the threat of deportation…"

The rhythm she had been tapping out with her toe wavered unconsciously. Mikasa wrote and then circled the third advantage. It hadn't been one that they'd planned – they hadn't had the chance to go over the intricacies. The premise that previously undocumented workers would suddenly devote their livelihoods to specific professions that would benefit the US economy was rife with gaps for a strong negative opponent to exploit.

A phone alarm signaled the end of the first speech. "Open for cross-ex," Eren breathed, steadying himself after eight continuous minutes of speaking. He glanced at the judge. "Closed, or.."

"Closed," the judge affirmed. Mikasa bit the inside of her cheek. Novice judges were often unaware of the default to closed cross examinations, but this one must have had some debate experience. She wouldn't be able to intervene or interject at all for the next three minutes as either Hoover or Braun tested their argument for any weaknesses.

Reiner stood. _That makes two things I haven't planned for, shit._ If Reiner was asking questions, that meant that Bertholdt was the first speaker. She tried to clear her assumptions asReiner cleared his throat, sifting through some of the papers on their table. "Can you restate your last advantage?" _Shit, shit_.

"Of course." Eren referenced Mikasa's flow as he reiterated their most recent position. As she listened, she began scribbling notes to help Eren answer some of the questions that were bound to come up. If they'd been keen enough to launch directly into the content of the third advantage, Braun was sure to test the obvious weaknesses. Unfortunately, Mikasa couldn't be completely confident in Eren with their lack of prep…

Mikasa sighed and stopped writing. She would have to trust in him, and see where that left them.

"At what rate do you expect newly documented immigrants to take jobs like the ones you specified?"

"Not every immigrant will take a job in these sectors, of course, and that's fine so long as we acknowledge that we aren't solely granting legal citizenship just to use them as disposable workers in high need fields—"

"How many?"

Eren paused. His voice faltered as he committed to an answer. "Let's say… 20% of people able to work, in an immediate time frame. But it should be noted that the overall plan will have the added effect of increasing the number of immigrants able to pursue higher education free of financial disincentive. This in turn should increase the percentage I just named, since more will be qualified." While his affect may have been off, Mikasa had nothing wrong with the content. It made the best of out a difficult position. She hoped it deterred their opponents away from that line of reasoning for now.

Bertholdt passed Reiner a paper. The blonde read it, and nodded. "Alright. Is this a net benefit to the United States?" _Phew._

"Yes," Eren immediately responded. The judge chimed in with a fifteen second warning.

"Can you think of anyone this might harm?"

"No, by and large all citizens will enjoy the benefits of a stronger economy. The magnitude of our impact covers all of the United States, per the evidence I read in the latter part of my speech. It—"

"That's time. Thank you," The judge expectantly looked toward the negative. "Do you need prep time?"

Hoover spoke audibly for the first time. "Yes, one minute please." One nod from the judge.

Mikasa whispered as she shifted the paper she had written talking points for Eren under her flow sheet. "You did a good job of exploiting the questions, Eren." It was a classic strategy: use any open ended question to take up more time to explain to the judge why they should ultimately vote for your side. "I'm not sure where they're going to go with their strategy. If they're taking prep now, they must be changing their speech in some way."

Eren smiled. "Yeah, I'm excited about the advantage. I think it'll be a great way to improve our impact debate in the rebuttals." He looked at the papers she had set aside while she flowed. "You should prep the 2AC."

Mikasa nodded, though she already had a mental list of cards she would read for their second speech. The cards – highlighted pieces of printed evidence that supported arguments – made up the core of debate. She needed less time than Eren to assemble them into a logical outline. Eight minutes while their opponent spoke would be more than enough. "I don't know if I can until I have a better idea of how they're going to integrate the cross-ex. It was unexpected." _That isn't going to land well._ "I think it will be fine, though."

"You think it wasn't a good idea to read that argument," Eren stated. Not a question, but Mikasa couldn't help but elaborate.

"I wish we would have had time to discuss, that's all," Mikasa shifted away from Eren and began organizing cards for her speech. She registered the defensive body language from Eren. It didn't budge even as Bertholdt began the 1NC.

"Eren, you need to flow so we have a record—"

"You always dictate everything that we do in a round, Mikasa," Eren lamented. "I think this is a risk we can take and win on. Trust me, please."

Mikasa tapped her fingers on her flow, thinking of the unused notes that hid underneath. The childish urge to wave them in his face was easily quashed. "Eren. I do trust you."

"Then let me handle whatever happens with that advantage. If it ends up being a mess, I'll clean it up. I can do this," Eren said with some finality, as he picked up his pen and looked over toward the current speaker.

It was a mess, and it was cleaned (barely, as the judge noted much to Eren's chagrin) but enough to allow the affirmative to scrape by with the win. After the round, as the judge expounded on his opinion of how the affirmative constructed their advantages, Mikasa willed with all of her mental energy for the judge to change topics. The telltale signs of Eren being wound up were present: head angled down, fists curled on his lap under the table, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. She resisted the urge to reach out and take his hand. The judge finished, and three voices chorused a 'thank you, judge' before the sound of chairs and shuffling papers filled the room.

Mikasa had barely finished packing up their files before Eren took his cards and notes in one haphazard stack – _completely unorganized,_ Mikasa thought with some exasperation – and left the room. A quick exchange of handshakes and polite smiles were the last of her obligations to that first round, and she hurried after Eren.

"Eren," Mikasa called as loudly as she could without drawing unnecessary attention to the tension between them. He stopped toward the end of the hallway, but didn't turn to look in her direction. As Mikasa neared him, Armin and Jean arrived.

Armin was a frighteningly perceptive kid. Mikasa made eye contact with him after he finished quickly surveying Eren. She pressed her lips into a thin line.

"Is everything okay, Eren? I saw some of the ballots… Didn't you just win the round?" Armin's eyebrows were stitched together, a product of concern and confusion combined. His last question depressed Mikasa's mood further.

"Yeah, Eren, you look like shit." Mikasa glared over toward Jean, who at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed under her withering gaze.

She would handle Jean later. "The judge thinks Eren farted during the round," Mikasa lied with a straight face. "It smelled pretty bad." Blue eyes widened slightly before they shot over toward Eren. Mikasa had a tendency to attempt to use humor as a last resort in moments of tension involving Eren. Jean chuckled dryly, trying to discern if it was true before giving in completely to his urge to tease.

"No, no, it's not that," Eren spat. "Stop screwing around, Mikasa. I'm just tired of risks that I take not panning out. I'm not good at this. I can't get better quickly enough."

No one had an answer for him, and the relief was palpable when a loud voice further down the hallway announced that the second round pairings were posted to the wall.

They made their way slowly through the crowd of people to check the sheets for their names. Armin and Jean found their room number, and wished Mikasa and Eren luck before disappearing into the crowd of students heading to round two.

The sheets had row after row of information – each listed a judge's name, a room number, and student names beside their school affiliations for both the affirming and negating teams. Mikasa found this part of the day to be oddly stressful, and it took her a few long moments to pick out their information on the page. "JAAC, that's us… We're in room 1C21. We're on the affirmative again, against a team from University of Sina. DRFR," Mikasa read. She checked the judge name out of compulsion. Judges were often from a massive and fluctuating volunteer pool, so it was rare that they had a repeat judge, let alone name recognition. It never hurt to know, just in case.

Mikasa read the name aloud. She didn't anticipate the inner meltdown it would trigger in Eren's eyes. It quickly became an outer meltdown.

"Fuck!" Eren dragged his hand down his face and around his jaw before bringing it back up to run through his hair. He leaned in to look at the row Mikasa still had her finger pressed against to read the information for himself. The confirmation triggered another few expletives. Mikasa couldn't help but think about how attractive Eren was even when visibly distressed. "That was the guy at the law firm I interviewed at last year. I remember it because you two have the same last name."

"Levi Ackerman," Mikasa repeated. She remembered the cloud of melancholy that Eren wore for days after his return from his unsuccessful attempt to secure an internship. "Wasn't he an asshole to you afterward?"

"You have no idea," Eren groaned. "Kill me now, I'm going to die of embarrassment if he fucking remembers me."

* * *

A/N: Hi all, it's been years since I've written anything for public consumption, but the plot demands writing. So far it's been a fun challenge to think of how to characterize Mikasa, Eren, and Levi without flattening them out too much. It's also a fun way to develop my own novice knowledge of debate and to do some reading on the resolution topic for next year in my area, which is immigration.

I hope this becomes a fun break from some original fiction writing I'm doing on the side. Much of the story is undecided, apart from the premise, so we'll see where it takes us. Comments and constructive criticism always welcome! **Thank you for reading.** \- H


	2. Ch 2: Is it merely coincidence?

Chapter 2: _Is it merely coincidence?_

Oh, he knew that face.

Levi read the ballot, then looked up at the four students seated at the tables before him. The written name and visual cue helped him recall why the only avoidant student in the room was behaving as such. Jaeger, as a vibrant and naïve freshman, had waltzed into his law firm with a trash resume and no apparent preparation around this time last year. The interview was short, Levi's temper was shorter. A string of shitty developments in the cases he'd been working on had undermined Levi's ability to make it into a learning experience.

"From Sina – Marlowe Freudenberg?" Levi saw a young man look up at the sound of his name. "And Hitch Dreyse." He sighed. With each passing generation, given names seemed to continuously degenerate.

"Okay. Affirmative team, from Maria... Eren Jaeger?" _Confirmed. "_ That leaves Mikasa Ackerman," He finished. "Sina, which of you is the 1NC?" Marlowe's hand shot up into the air. _Overeager… Great…_ "Maria, 1AC?" Eren simply flipped his hand up from its position resting on the table. _Moody… Great…_

Levi set down his pen with a satisfying snapping sound. Preamble was not his style. "Closed cross-ex. I have no preferences in reading speed. Has the affirmative disclosed?"

"Yes. We'll be reading a consular requirement affirmative."

"Sure," Levi sighed. "Let's get started, unless anyone has any questions." He didn't pause to wait before he looked to Eren for the first speech.

Eren cleared his throat. He looked at Mikasa to check if she was ready. Mikasa's eyes glimmered as they sustained eye contact. 'You've grown. Show it,' She mouthed. Eren seemed mollified and began his speech.

Levi barely steeled himself against the impulse to roll his eyes. A tale as old as time - a debate pair dating. A quick observation of the two from Sina showed a very different dynamic. While he was unsure if they even liked each other, he appreciated the formal feel about them. Sina was a small, elite liberal arts college somewhere up north, and they maintained a mediocre debate team with ease. In cumulative terms, they usually finished in arms reach of first and second place.

It wasn't as much a lack of talent as it was complacency. It was the type of school that guaranteed success upon matriculation, so few of the students maintained a fire to strive for better. Listening to Marlowe's speech, Levi deduced he was one of the brave few at Sina to actually give a shit about maximizing his education post-acceptance. In contrast, Maria was a larger public research school. The range of students was broad, with all sorts of roads and life experiences that brought students together on the campus. Fewer silver spoons and trust funds. Hard work bred good character, in his experience.

The timer went off, ending the most recent speech. "Ready for cross ex?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

"Great. Three minutes," Levi narrated as he set his timer.

He vastly preferred the general temperament at Maria in comparison with the samples he'd seen from Sina, but this pissant with the foul attitude soured his predisposition to favor them. Jaeger seemed to have let his brain switch off after his first speech, and his partner had to continuously interrupt him with whispered guidance during cross ex and his rebuttal. Said pissant promptly put his head down on the table after finishing the first affirmative rebuttal, leaving Ackerman to plan the last and single most important speech in the round on her own.

Levi looked down at his paper. _Pitifully sparse._ In his youth he'd been retentive about his ability to take notes during debate rounds, and his former college coach had been too joyful upon receiving Levi's binder of immaculate flows from over three years of debate. He supposed they were still used to show students what to do with the eight column template. From what Levi could make out from his position, Hitch could do with some additional coaching in that area. The amber eyed girl finished her rebuttal, leaving two _whole fucking minutes_ left out of a five minute speech, and Marlowe appeared to have an aneurysm as she idly resumed doodling on the last few columns of her flow paper.

The round was torturous. A grim reminder of why he stopped volunteering for the judge pool years ago. The affirmative read a terrible economic advantage, the negative used it as a door to blow the whole affirmative open, with some strategic leverage of phrasing and exploitation of Jaeger's lack of forethought regarding funding and enforcement. Marlowe had a fairly well executed kritik about nationalism and American exceptionalism that Hitch barely extended through her speeches, but it was there, and it was just enough to win. Once it became clear that the affirmative had only a feeble defense against half of what their opponents threw into the ring, Levi had thoroughly tuned out.

"I feel like shit, so let's get this over with,"Levi cleared his throat lightly. "I cast my ballot in favor of the negative." Eren, who had decided to rejoin the adults in the room by picking his head up from the table, looked miserable. Hitch was relatively unfazed compared to Marlowe, who openly gawked at their improbable win. Mikasa's face barely flickered at the judgment, like she had already mentally prepped for the verdict Levi now served. "Negative, you saw a weakness and used it to your advantage. Your flowing needs work - both teams, actually. Debate is not just content knowledge, it is organization and discipline. Judges can tell when you don't flow correctly because your speeches are shit. It is not my job to parse out your arguments. You do that, because you're convincing me to vote for you.

"Ackerman, don't continuously interrupt your partner, even if you think it's useful. It undermines him, and makes your team look weak. Write it down instead, or don't say it at all. I docked some of your speaker points for it. If your partner is being an idiot, at a certain point you just have to sit there and bear it." Levi tapped his fingernail on the table as he tried to snap Jaeger out of his stupor. "You - Jaeger. Lots of mistakes, easy to fix, but too many to correct here. You're from Maria University, you should still have Hannes as your faculty advisor? Take your flows to him, he'll sort you out. That's it."

"Thank you judge."

Jacket and folder in tow, Levi headed out of the room to locate a place he could get some tea or coffee. If this was a sample of the teams from Maria he would be assistant coaching for the next academic term, he'd savor one of his last non-alcoholic beverages for a while.

"Foul countenance you have there, Levi," a warm voice filtered across the sound of students chatting in the hallway. Levi glimpsed up from his thoughts and spotted his boss striding toward him. "Lost the last round, did we?"

"Erwin." Levi shook his head. His visitor fell into step with Levi without any question of destination. "I'm going to murder you, and possibly one or more of these students. Have Hange do the recruiting for this cycle, she loves talking to anything that will stay in place long enough for her to really get going. They need an aggressive amount of coaching to start developing the skills you're looking for, anyway. Better yet, just send out some fucking interview invitations to a bunch and pick from those that show. You know, like a normal scholarship."

Erwin smiled. "I think it's best to leave Hange out of recruitment, if we'd like to… Keep a balance amongst the staff. " Levi snorted. Erwin, ever the diplomat. "If it were as simple as inviting students in for interviews, trust and believe I would accept that." They walked in silence for a few moments, finding the judge's lounge by following the strengthening scent of coffee and cream. "Besides, Mikasa Ackerman was sent a direct offer letter with gratuitous compensation a month ago."

Levi raised an eyebrow. To his knowledge, Ackerman was not on the roster of scholarship recipients. The only name that was listed on the cohort website was 'A. Leonhart.' Mikasa must have turned it down. "How do you know she received it?"

"Aurou called her to confirm. She received it, but declined."

"Reason being?"

Levi was unsettled by the humor in Erwin's eyes as he answered. "She mentioned something about our reputation... Word of mouth from peers concerning a certain someone's lack of tact." Erwin paused as Levi's expression darkened. "That of course may not be the only reason. As you coach, it's worth figuring out. She is enrolled in the law program at Maria, so something isn't congruent. Most kids interested in a legal career would kill for the chance to work for us, let alone have us pay for years of schooling." Erwin broke off to finish adding cream and sugar to his coffee.

Nothing he said improved Levi's disposition toward this whole endeavor. Erwin, a product of policy debate, firmly believed in its ability to create principled and competent students, who would in turn make principled and competent lawyers. An interventionist with an annoyingly high internal locus of control, Erwin maintained that people often required direction to fulfill their talents (Levi held that his brand was less guidance and more coercion). When someone had a skill set to contribute to his cause, Erwin couldn't be dissuaded until he had them on his team. Admirable and annoying in turn, but Levi thrived on relationships with respect and trust as the foundation. Usually Levi humored his in whatever he identified as the next objective that would bring them all toward their mutual goal. Erwin knew that Levi trusted him and did his best not to exploit his loyal nature.

Levi had been on a path that had him flirting with criminal charges when Erwin judged a college debate round of his. To Levi's exasperation, Erwin proceeded to harass him for months about pursuing a career in law at his firm. For a while Levi was unsure if Erwin wanted to hire him or seduce him. The process looked a lot like wooing a new lover, with gratuitous gifts, lunches, and irritatingly late phone calls. Ultimately, a set of regrettable events forced Levi to shift his priorities, and the blonde opportunist used it to convince him that law was a means to the ends he desired. Levi bought it - out of belief or desperation, Levi was sure Erwin didn't care - and here he was, still working for the man over a decade later.

Levi was great at his job, Erwin was validated, and thus, the strange mechanism for picking scholarship students had been set. The dark haired man sipped his coffee idly as he pondered his current circumstances.

He had no doubt she would cave eventually. Their firm bankrolled it all - from textbooks to housing, junior year through juris doctor. There had never been an application for the program, though there was much speculation among students about how to increase your odds of receiving an invitation. While it did surprise him that she had explicitly refused an offer, he doubted she would be able to resist the closest thing to a guarantee of a financially, socially, and personally rewarding career. She hadn't wowed him during the debate, but she came strongly recommended from Hannes as a ready-to-start candidate full of even greater potential. Hannes's last recommendation had been Moblit Berner, an intelligent and polished young man who now made the perfect assistant to Hange. Levi was grateful to Hannes for forcing him to pursue debate as a freshman. The least he could do was trust him and his record for talent spotting. Worst case, he could tap out from Maria U and scout somewhere else, but he had a soft spot for his alma mater.

"You learn so much from people watching at tournaments like this," Erwin's voice pried into Levi's thoughts. He was looking past Levi through a wide window that provided a glimpse into a hall overflowing with students. Levi turned in his seat to see a group of debaters that included Jaeger and Ackerman. The girl was obviously distressed. She kept worrying the edge of her scarf between her fingers as she stood in silence, gazing at her partner. Jaeger didn't seem to pay mind to the way she reacted to his mood. Levi had to assume as much, as he couldn't see Eren's face from where he sat. At no point during Erwin and Levi's surveillance did Jaeger turn to face her, or acknowledge what he inferred to be occasional murmurs from Mikasa.

 _Ackerman seems to be in love with the brat wanted to work for us but couldn't. Is it merely coincidence? Unlikely._ "I'm surprised the brat refused," Levi admitted.

"It's an offer most can't turn down. It makes me wonder what circumstances cause it to be unappealing. I suppose that's for you to find out and then address, though I'm sure you already have a line of questioning in mind." Erwin stood, Levi followed suit.

They tossed their cups and headed out the door. _It might be easy enough to get her to make increasingly independent decisions, especially with his brattish attitude._ Levi turned to peer through the glass a final time. He conceded to the feeling of surprise again when the change in perspective revealed that Jaeger and Ackerman were holding hands. 

* * *

A/N: A little foreshadowing for how difficult it might be for Levi to see things from Mikasa's emotional point of view when it comes to Eren. If the amount of debate terminology and whatnot has been a pain for you, we by and large depart from tournaments at this point. From this, at the very least when characters reference certain aspects of debate it won't be completely new. Next chapter, perhaps some Eren POV. I already know I am going to be most challenged by writing for him… Sigh. We'll see if I can give it a go. Tips, comments, critiques welcomed. **Thank you for reading! - H**


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